A frequent flyer's collection of trip diaries

Arrival in Beijing

(Link to flight log in side panel)

I joined an enormous immigration
queue at Capital Airport's Terminal 3E and became rather annoyed
when the electronic sign above my chosen lane switched abruptly from
'Foreigners' to 'Chinese Nationals'. Still, it looked as though they
were being sensible about it and allowing those already in the queue
to continue. I was eventually able to board one of the shuttle
trains for transfer to Terminal 3C, where I picked up my
already-circling suitcase, cleared Customs and caught an official
taxi into town. Communicating with the driver proved to be
interesting, but I was confident that the destination had been
established beyond doubt. Sure enough, I was soon stepping out in
front of the Hilton Wangfujing, where the front desk staff sent me
directly up to the Executive Lounge to check in.

It turned out that my room wasn't
quite ready yet, which was reasonable enough given that it was only
around 1:30 in the afternoon. The staff suggested that I might like
to wait, as it shouldn't take too long. I took the opportunity to
brush up on my outline sight-seeing plan, use the computer for a
while and look at the view for signs of red dust! (Thankfully the
weekend's dust storm had subsided in the course of the last couple
of days.) Eventually, my suite was ready for occupation and one of
the staff showed me to it, with my suitcase arriving very shortly
thereafter. After all that travelling, I had a refreshing shower
before doing anything else, hoping that it would have the additional
effect of helping to keep me awake!

Once I felt that I was reasonably
organised, I decided to head out for an introductory walk around
Tiananmen Square, the largest public square in the world and
probably best known to Westerners as the focal point of the 1989
pro-democracy protests. I made my way down the Wangfujing
pedestrianised shopping street and turned westwards, stepping it out
first of all to try to keep warm in the biting wind, and also in a
futile attempt to avoid contact with the various touts and scam
artists who were apparently keen to befriend me. I kept up the pace
on arrival at my destination, as the wind really was freezing.
Dithering around was absolutely not an option! Nevertheless, I
managed to have a good look at the various landmarks in conditions
of poor light, starting with the Gate of Heavenly Peace, the main
entry point to the Forbidden City, from which the square takes its
name. I then crossed via the underpass to the main part of the
square, taking in the Great Hall of the People, the Mao Zedong
Mausoleum, the Monument to the People's Heroes and the National
Museum of China.

With all that done, I was happy to
quick-march back to the hotel, pausing only to take a few photos in
the shopping precinct.

Back at base, I decided to have a light room-service dinner
before surrendering to the growing feelings of tiredness some time
between 8pm and 9pm.